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All the news of internationally acclaimed percussionist, Pete Lockett

2022
Pete retired from all performance and commercial recording in July 2022. He will continue to be active with his app and various other projects, many not related to the music industry.

2020 / 2021
The devastating developments across the world in 2020 meant everything ground to a rapid and unwelcome grinding halt. The focus moved abruptly away from travel and more to studio, online and writing initiatives. Pete managed to complete three new books. "Kanjira - A new approach to an ancient instrument" and "Independence Alphabet" Both were released in 2020 by Hudson music. The third book is planned for 2022 and will be co-written with a very special percussion celebrity. With regards recording projects, a couple of things stand out. Firstly Pete was musical director for the "Border line in Tokyo" project with incredible dancer Masako Ono. This project was performed as part of the Olympic games in Japan. Sadly, because of the travel situation at the time, Pete could not go out to Japan but instead put everything together for the music at a London studio. Also of note was a recording with Organ maestro Willem Tanke and the legendary American saxophonist and flautist, Dave Liebman.

Also, towards the end of 2019, a new project with keyboard master and songwriter Peter-John Vettese took very solid shape. With everything closed to the public, "Lockett-Vettese-Band" did a week at Poole Lighthouse theatre and then live-streamed a performance at the end. Produced by Paul Cameron / Beats productions, the event culminated with a live interview hosted by drumming legend Bill Bruford. Pete had to wait till towards the end of 2021 to venture abroad for a couple of live events. After performing solo at the Dia Do Ritmo event in Portugal, he was off to Pasic 2021 for a memorable duo with the great drummer and composer, Thomas Lang. Travel bans again interfered with the schedule but luckily, Pete could travel out to Indianapolis two days before the event. After a one hour practice session on pillows in the hotel, Thomas and Pete defied the odds and pulled of a very detailed and arranged performance together. Up and coming in the technology field are two new products. Firstly, DrumJam app was updated with literally tens of thousands of acoustically recorded loops and samples. A new addition to the family as well. "DrumJamPads AU" will be a new Audio Unit version of the solo pads from DrumJam. Then, there will be a sound design percussion plug in for Kontakt released by Rattly and Raw. This will be unlike anything else previously released and will use percussion as a sound design source. Other developments in this area include a new "Indian rhythms workout pack" available as an in-app purchase in the excellent programmable metronome app - SYNKD. It"s the first time anything like this has been released for a programmable metronome.

Also launched in late 2021 was Petes new Bandcamp page where people can buy direct, rather than through iTunes or Spotify. To celebrate the launch, three albums of archive material have been released and available only on the Bandcamp page. A live recording from a collaboration in Azerbaijan, an album of pieces recorded using exclusively the ATV electronic aFrame and a third that features previously unreleased solos and collaborations, including one with drumming royalty, Horacio "El Negro" Hernandez. Please do support Pete on his Bandcamp page if you can!



2019
Seems like a lifetime ago now but, 2019 was a great year of Rhythm for Pete. Solo gigs took him all over the world, Canada, USA, Singapore, Vietnam, Greece and around Europe. His first piece commissioned for marching band was premiered in Holland by Pasveerkorps in November. He was back out at Drumeo in Vancouver filming a new course on Tabla and is one of the featured techniques writers on the new revamped Rhythm magazine. His new "Re-Mix" brushes with Vic Firth were percussion product of the show at Namm 2020 and have since won other awards. Then Pete released another duo CD, this time with percussion Maestro Randy Gloss from LA. Entitled "Stones in the yard," the recording explores some very diverse soundscapes and rhythm worlds.

2018
Started out with work on the Jungle book film Mowgli, with Nitin Sawhney and Andy Sirkis. Then it was out for a filming session at Drum Channel and product development meeting with LP, before heading off to Austria for a packed house at the famous Konzerthaus Wien to perform with Martin Grubinger, Thomas Lang, Virgil Donati and Stanton Moore. This was followed by a small UK solo tour and the release of a duo CD with Luis Conte. Entitled "BOOM", the CD made it to the top ten in the Rhythm magazine readers' poll 2018. Pete then zipped off to Athens for the first edition of the Athens drum festival. This was followed by the release of Pete's first Chinese language education book. The book was launched with a solo tour across China which saw Pete perform and teach across the country. Around this time Pete also featured on the Indian CD release of 'Ultimate Drum Jams' with Tabla master, Bickram Ghosh on Saregama Music.

Summer 2018 saw the release of Pete's second book on Hudson Music, entitled " Bars, Beats and Building Blocks". Then Pete was out to Japan to present the first ever solo show featuring the "aFrame", a unique and dynamic new electronic percussion instrument by ATV Corporation. This was the start of a solo tour on general percussion which took Pete all around the world, the highlights being Australia drum weekend, a duo tour of New Zealand with Benny Greb and Drum Channel with Eric Moore. This was followed by a few solo dates in Dresden, Berlin and Hamburg. Pete also got to perform with the amazing Richard Spaven trio in Germany. Then it was off to Canada. Firstly Menductic and a trip to the Sabian factory for a tour and an extensive video session. Then it was the Ralph Angellilo Quebec drum festival, followed by a Canadian tour visiting Montreal, Kanata and St Catharines. This period also saw the release of Pete's third book for 2018. "Symmetrical Stickings for Drum Set and Percussion" which was also released by Hudson. Then Pete was back out to Germany for a couple more solo shows before getting back home to a stock pile of recordings on the "to do" list. Top of that list is a new duo recording project with American percussionist Randy Gloss and the new Amici Prism duo project with Pam Chowhan on 'The Other Songs' label.

2017
In Jan Pete was honoured to perform in LA at the memorial for the late industry legend, Joe Hibbs. He was also interviewed by Dom Famularo for the SESSIONS artist series. Then Pete went straight out to India for the Mumbai drum day and a solo performance in Chennai. Around this time he was made a global ambassador of the ATV company for the aFrame percussion instrument.

February saw the release of Pete's duo album with Tabla master, Fazal Qureshi on the prestigious SAREGAMA label in India. Then Pete was out in Madrid to start work on a new collaboration with Cajon master, Jose Montana. Around this time the final mixes for the duo album with Pete and Luis Conte started to filter through. Next up was a mini tour in Germany, supported by the Gewa company. It started in Berlin at Drum-Trainer, then off to Online Lessons in the south for a heavy few days shooting tutorials and percussion courses. Then the mini trip wound up with a solo slot at Pop Akademie, one of the most innovative music education institutions anywhere in the world. Then, after a few days at home it was out to Lisbon and Madrid for a few solo events. Following this was a week long drum festival in the south of Italy. Bring on the sunshine.

August saw Pete heading out to Vancouver to be interviewed and perform for a great in-depth, six part percussion documentary that will hit the TV sometime in 2019. Great to catch up with old friends in Nanaimo. Then, after the Algam show with ATV there were drum festival solo performances in Zurich, The Hague and Krakow. After this Pete spent a couple of weeks in the studio finishing one of his Indian based projects for Audio Network. Towards the end of the year Pete was out at Pop Akademie again for the World drum festival and then over to Sri Lanka for the Bera-Fest with the great Sri Lankan group, Naadro. With some additional relaxed time off by the beach, Pete also managed to complete a new drum book for release in China in 2018 in conjunction with a country wide tour. Pete also featured on Noel Gallagher's album release towards the end of 2017.

2016
Started in India with Rakesh Charausia and musicians of Rajasthan before studio sessions with David Holmes and Noel Gallagher. Then he was off to Dubai to perform with Santoor maestro, Rahul Sharma. During this time, his DrumJam app was released in the Galaxy store for Android. There was also more time in the studio, working on a percussion album with Lea Mullen, Mino Cinelu and Luis Conte. Then it was out to Havana for the Cuba drum festival where he performed solo and also live with Brenda Navarrette and Alex Acuna. From there is was back to India with Tabla greats Anindo Chattterjee and Anubrata Chatterjee. Then Pete had a ten date solo tour in the UK.

Then it was out to Portugal to perform solo at Dia do Ritmo, Portugal. Next up, Germany and a big week teaching and performing at the Tamburi Mundi frame drum festival. Here one of the highlights was a duet with percussionist and composer, Zohar Fresco. This was quickly followed by another highlight of the year when Pete performed with Steve Gadd and Horacio Hernandez at the Croatia drum festival. Then over to Germany for the Creativ drum camp for solo show and a trio with Claus Hessler and Gabor Dornyei. A lot of fun being there for the week. Then it was time for studio doing Noel Gallaghers new album, David Holmes and a project with Indian sitar great, Purbayan Chatterjee, Rhythm Shaw and Dominiqe Dipiazza. Then some video and photo sessions with Sabian cymbals and the finishing touches to my new duo album with Fazal Qureshi for Saregama in India. Soon after this it was Athens for a solo show and recording / shooting video for a new project with Greek contemporary band, Triplicity and Panos Vassilopoulos.



This was followed by a small clinic tour in Canada and a few days in the studio filming and recording for the amazing online drum website, Drumeo. Being a great wine lover, going out to the Rioja drum festival after this was a great pleasure. Then off to Wienfelden in Switzerland for Solo stuff, Duo with drum legend, Russ Miller and an impromptu performance with Vibes great Mike Mainiri. Then out to Ukraine for a solo presentation and back home with a fist full of Avios air miles! After this there was a bit more time in the studio with Noel Gallagher. We can reflect on our respective years and feel grateful that once again I was voted high on the readers' polls in USA and UK. Thankful and blessed to have a life of musical variety and all the great friends that go with that.

2015
It stated in India, once again! This time, Pete was the first Westerner to be featured in the Idea Jalsa Tour in India with the great Selva Ganesh, Swaminathan Ganesh and Niladri Kumar. He also was honoured to receive the Pandit Jasraj award for cultural contributions to Indian music in conjunction with the Rotary Club of Hyderabad. Following this, he was then in Mumbai for an amazing trio performance with the legendary Anindo Chatterjee and his son Anubrata. He also performed at Furtados in Mumbai and got to spend some great down time in Benares. In March Pete was delighted to be voted Percussionist and World Percussionist of 2015 in the DRUM magazine poll in the USA. Then Pete joined forces with Russ Miller for a performance on the Agora stage at the Frankfurt Music Messe before heading to Austria for the Colours of Percussion festival.

After appearing on the entertaining Mike Dolbear TV show with Lea Mullen, Pete was off to Poland for the Bydgoszcz Drum fest. This was followed by a whistle stop tour of Asia. First off, South Korea, then Taiwan and the great TIPSC Summer camp. Then China for the incredible 9Beats summer camp which was held on a cruise ship between China and Japan. Pete also did an extensive series of education videos for the excellent 9Beats app. Noteworthy was how Pete narrowly avoided the exchange of artillery fire in Korea, the devastating typhoon in Taiwan and was even in Tianjin when the huge chemical explosion happened. In September Pete popped over to Norway for a clinic at the Alain Charmoille drum school in Tonsberg.

Towards the end of 2015, Pete was performing solo at the China Drum Summit and Shanghai drum festival. He also lectured at the Shanghai Conservatory, where he is a guest professor. Then it was off to LA for video recordings with Drum Channel, studio recordings with Thomas Lang and a live performance with the great Hands On'Semble He also spent some time with LA percussionist Luis Conte on duo recording project.

2014
Pete kicked off 2014 with a trip to India and performances with the great Bickram Ghosh, before going off to NAMM in LA for product demos and performances with Remo percussion. Pete's Vic Firth signature stick was also voted #! Signature stick 2014 in DRUM Magazine in the USA. Next it was India again, starting out with a performance in Mumbai with drummer Phil Maturano and saxophonist George Brooks. They then travelled over to Chennai where Pete gave lectures at the Swarnabhoomi Academy of Music as well as a duo performance with Phil Maturano. Around this time Pete was honored to be voted #2 World Percussionist in Modern Drummer magazine. A trip to Hungary followed this, where Pete headlined the Cegled drum gala along with great Hungarian drummer Gabor Dornyei. Pete then gave a Master-class and performance at Hanover University and played solo at the Manchester drum show in the UK.

When back in the UK, Pete released his first novel, a science fiction offering entitled 'A Survivor's Guide to Eternity'. Released on Mirador publishing, it received very positive reviews and there have been numerous press features, including an hour-long BBC special on the Mike Read show. It is available at leading bookstores and online as paperback and kindle.

Spring saw a massive update of Pete's DrumJam app, released in partnership with Sonorsaurus. With double the content and loads of new bells and whistles, the app soared into the top five in 40 countries. Pete also gave a lecture and solo evening performance at Southampton University in Hampshire. Back in London, this was followed by a Skype master-class for the percussion students at Arizona university in the USA. The last third of 2014 was a busy one for Pete and featured two new releases. On the CD front there was 'RHYTHM SPHERE' with legendary LA drummer, Russ Miller, also featuring Rajhesh Vaidhya on Veena. Then there was a DVD release with Hungarian drummer Gabor Dornyei. Filmed in Hungary by leading filmmaker, Robert Zoltan, 'RHYTHM FRONTIER' is a real video feast of drums and percussion. Pete was then in India for an amazing gala performance featuring some of India"s finest classical musicians of the last fifty years. Pete played solo and also got the chance to perform with the great Pandit Jasraj and Hariprasad Chaurasia. Then it was back to the UK for a solo tour of arts centres, including Kings Place in London and Bramall Hall in Birmingham. In January, Pete was back in India for an incredible show featuring more than fifty tribal drummers from the Chhattisgarh district in India. Along with Swaminathan Ganesh, Anubruta Chatterjee and Ghatam Udupa, the team put on a continuous one hour jugalbandi which was broadcast live nationwide on Indian TV. Then Pete was off to LA for the yearly winter NAMM show where he did performances for Remo percussion.

Pete was also busy touring, including appearances at drum festivals in Romania, Hungary, USA and Holland. In the USA, Pete played solo at Vic"s drum shop in Chicago, before heading out for a ballroom performance with Russ Miller at Pasic 14. Then it was off to China for the Beijing Drum Summit and the Shanghai Drum Show. Here, Pete had the honour of being made Honorary Professor at Shanghai Conservatory of Music. Pete also spent time in the studio working on a new album for Indian mandolin maestro, U Rajhesh. He also topped the 2014 World percussionist readers poll in American drum magazine DRUM!

Next up Pete was off to Romania for a solo performance at the Romanian drum fest, the Cajon fest in Holland and a performance in India with the great Mandolin maestro, U Srinivas. Towards the end of the year Pete featured with drumming legend Michael Shrieve on his new album. Also featured are Airto, Zakir Hussain, Olatunji, Jack DeJohnette, Amom Tobin and Trey Gunn amongst others.

2013
In January 13 Pete was out at Namm and was proud to launch his new signature sticks, 'DrumJammer' by Vic Firth. They are an all-in-one versatile solution that is great on kit, percussion or electronic drums. A small acorn for defined cymbal work and a long tapered shaft make them great for 'rimless' drums.

Then Pete launched a new CD on Times Music. 'Made in Kolkata' features the great Tabla master Pandit Shankar Ghosh and was released in Kolkata by the great Bickram Ghosh. Plenty of percussion and Sarod. The launch was part of a solo tour which saw Pete perform solo in Chennai, Kolkata and in Mumbai's great Blue Frog club. Before that Pete had been performing at the Royal College percussion day in London and recording strings at Abbey Road on his next project with Pam Chowhan and Audio Network. In August Pete was the cover feature for the special percussion edition of the Italian DRUMSET magazine.

2012
Started at Namm again, this time with numerous performances for Remo and a feature in the Living Legends concert with Bob Berryhill of the Safaris, Dennis Tufano of The Buckinghams, Greg Walker of Santana, Koko Powell of The Spencer Davis Group, Teddy Zig Zag of Guns & Roses, Nicko Mcbrain of Iron Maiden and others. He then spent a week teaching at the winter Jazz camp @ Engelsholm Castle, Denmark taking a combo through some Indian rhythms and melodies. Pete also finished a new library music album, 'Cinematic Percussion' for release on Focus music.

Then Pete was at the Royal College of Music to give a lecture before heading off on a mini European tour with drummer Rob Hirons. The tour visited Southern Italy and Northern Germany, along with Marseilles, Dijon and Rennes in France. Then Pete was off to Holland to be a jury member for the international 'Tromp' percussion competition. He also performed a solo set in the 'Aan de slag' percussion event in Eindhoven. Following this he was off to Sandlane studios for a recording project with Dutch drummer, Lucas van Merwijk. The whole day's recording and mixing was filmed for Slagwerkwereld.com.

In late July Pete was off on a massive seven week solo tour which took him to China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Australia, LA and finally back home to London. One of the highlights of the tour was AUDW and drumscene live tour in Australia where Pete shared the bill with Dave Weckl, Thomas Lang and Dom Famularo. It coincided with the launch of Petes iDevices app, DrumJam which was launched in partnership with leading app developer, Sonosaurus. Within a week it was #4 in USA and #2 in Japan. Before the world tour Pete was the studio with David Arnold to record tracks for the closing ceremony of the London Olympics 2012. This was followed by a solo performance at the Royal College of Music percussion day in London.

In April, Pete was off to Switzerland for collaborative performances with the Indian themed band, Ahimsa. Then Pete was off to LA for a residency and performance at CAL ARTS. There were numerous workshops and clinics and a final performance including collaborations with Hands On'Semble and the CAL Arts world percussion ensemble. It was truly the most drums ever seen onstage at one time! Prior to all this, Petes collaboration with Rajasthani traditional musicians came to London. Featuring special guest Tim Garland, the team performed to a packed house at the Queen Elizabeth Hall at the South Bank Centre as part of the Alchemy festival.

Pete was been featured on numerous recordings in 2012. These include; Dalis Car, 'InGladAloneness' which was released in April and features the late great Mick Karn (Japan), Peter Murphy (Bauhaus), Steve Jansen, Jakko M Jakszyk and Theo Travis amongst others. Right up to his last days Mick showed his complete devotion to music, checking mixes and coming up with musical ideas from his hospital bed. He was a true inspiration. Pete was also on Russ Miller's CD / DVD release 'Arrival Live'. This also featured drumming legends Steve Gadd and Steve Smith.

At the end of 2012 Pete was in India for a concert with percussionists Bickram Ghosh and Greg Ellis in Kolkata. The 'Mighty trio' performed to over 5000 people in the centre of the city, besides giving a small number of workshops and seminars for a select group of participants at the ICCR. Pete also spent some time recording on the soundtrack of forthcoming Bollywood film, Jal with Bickram. Then Pete commenced recording on Austrian Bassist, Bernhard Lackner's new album. It also features Derico Watson on drums.

Pete also performed elsewhere around the world in 2012, including a duo show in Istanbul with guitarist Erdem Helvacioglu, followed by a trip to the USA for a clinic / performance in Indianapolis and a solo performance at the prestigious Pasic conference. Pete also contributed actively with technique articles for drum and percussion magazines worldwide. Jan 2012 alone sees articles and / or videos appear in Modern Drummer USA, Drummer UK, Percuscene Australia, iDrummag UK and Percussive notes USA.

2011
Kicked off with performances with Steve Smith and then a solo clinic for Guitar Centre in LA. Then it was a hectic few days at NAMM. Then Pete was working on tracks for bassist Bernhard Lackner's new album which also features Chester Thomson on drums. Pete then co wrote and recorded a track with Johnny Rabb's 'Biodeisel' project and recorded tracks for Phil Maturano's new DVD. Then Pete was in India for performances at the Jaipur festival and Lucknow festival. The show featured 25 traditional Rajasthani artists including Gopal Geela and Manpula Ram. Then there were numerous performances at the Frankfurt music messe including a solo show on the Agora stage and a duet with Phil Maturano.

Pete then stopped off for a masterclass at ACM Guilford. Then it was off to the Cannes film festival for performances with the legendary Hollywood film composer Craig Armstrong. Featured in the performance were David McAlmont, Andrea Corr, Steve Jones (Air) and Goldfrapp's Angie Pollock on keys. Then Pete was of to the USA to teach and perform at Berklee music school, including a solo show at the Berklee summer perc fest. Then Pete had a clinic in Boston and three around the New York area. July 25th saw the release in India of a compilation CD of Pete's work. The album "Rhythm King" was released on Questz World. Pete was then up to the Norfolk Drum camp for a solo set on the main stage and some workshops. Pete was then one of the featured tutors at the "Rhythm" drum camp in the UK. Then he was off to Italy for a solo show and a duet with Phil Maturano at the Junio jazz festival. This was followed by a masterclass at the Francisco Tarrega academy. Around this time Pete was voted runner up in the Percussionist of the year category and also the Worldbeat percussionist category in DRUM magazine readers poll USA.

2010
Began with a research trip to Cuba followed by NAMM in LA where Promark unveiled his new signature stick 'VOYAGER'. Then came a solo gig at the 100 club in London and a trip to India for a series of solo gigs, including at the Kyra club in Bangalore. Pete also got the time to visit Rajasthan to begin a collaboration with local Rajasthani musicians. Pete visited Jaipur and travelled out to the remote villages of Pabuscar, Barjangsar and Chhotadia where they play very rare Pot drums called 'Maante' Pete also finished recording his new solo album 'About time' which was released in May 2010.

In Jan 2010 Pete's album 'One' with Bill Bruford was re-released on Summerfold label Worldwide.Then Pete was off to Frankfurt where he had ten performances in four days, including the Agora stage. This was followed by a Remo events in France and Belgium. After a fortnight recording percussion for the new 'Brink' Playstation game, Pete had a solo show in UAE followed by a trip to Canada where he performed a solo set at the Cape Breton drum festival. There were also duets with Denny Seiwell and Michael Shrieve. This was followed by a clinic tour of Canada and then a trip to the south of France for the Montpellier drum fest and also the Drums Addicts festival in Bordeux where he performed solo and also in duet with Damien Schmitt.

Then Pete was off on a World tour with four solo gigs in New Zealand followed by Ultimate Drum Weekend in Melbourne where he played solo and also featured with Steve Smith, Derek Roddy and Michael Barker. This was followed by University lectures in Mebourne, Clinics at Drumtek and two solo shows in Sydney. Then it was a solo show for Remo and two days shooting educational videos for the Remo web site. Pete then returned to London where he began work on his sample CD for Loopmaster and a percussion plug in for Toontrack. Pete then recorded percussion on Danny Boyle's new film, a track with Dido and A R Rahman, the Indian Commonwealth games theme and an up and coming Tamil film. Around this time Pete was also voted runner up in the Modern Drummer readers' poll for best percussionist 2010.

This was followed by a series of lectures at Drummers institute in Germany, a solo performance at Olympia for the London drum show, Dresden for a solo show, Poland for duo shows with Simon Phillips (Toto) and then a trip to Rajasthan where Pete coordinated a collaboration with a group of twenty eight Rajhasthani folk musicians, including Gopal Geela"s chang troupe and Manphula Ram"s derun brigade, along with an entourage of drums, khartals, flutes, harmonium players, regional dancers and vocalists. This was premiered at the Jodhpur folk festival 2010. It was then off to Sweden for a solo set at the Stockholm drum day along with a brief finale with Vinny Appice and Seven.

2009
After NAMM in LA Pete was off to India for the launch tour of his new album with Bickram Ghosh. The album, entitled 'Kingdom of Rhythm' was out on the HMV / Saregama label and was launched in Kolkatta by the governor of Bengal along with a sold out concert featuring flame throwers and fire dancers. The show was broadcast live on TV. Pete was then off to Argentina for an extensive performance / Clinic tour which took him to Buenes Aires, Mendoza and La Plata. Then it was straight to Frankfurt for solo performances on the main stage, a duo with Dave Langguth and a guest performance with Selva Ganesh, Jonas Hellborg and Niladri Kumar. Then it was a solo slot at the Adams drum festival in Belgium and also a duo slot with Simon Phillips. This was followed by a short clinic tour in Holland. Around this time Petes new book received 5 stars in Modern Drummer magazine. Besides the five stars in MD, the book was also voted in the top five books of the year in the Modern Drummer readers poll. Pete was also featured around this time on Jon Hassell's new release on ECM, 'Last night the moon came dropping its clothes in the street' Pete was also featured heavily on Benny Greb's DVD and also Russ Miller's DVD, both on Hudson.

It was then off to the Cape Breton drum fest for a solo performance, a duo with Johnny Rabb and a collaboration with Mi'kmaq Tribe Eskasoni and Bruce Aitken. Following this Pete joined forces with Nicko McBrain of Iron Maiden for a duo performance at Drummer Live in London. Pete then whipped out to New Zealand for a clinic tour hosted by Rockshops NZ and then off to Australia for a solo performance at AUDW, the major Aussie drum fest. This was followed by a week in Croatia teaching and performing. The week included a duo performance with Horacio El Negro Hernandez. Then Pete was off to Mumbai for a shoot for a music video with Indian rock band, Bandish. This was followed by a series of clinics and solo shows in Europe including Adams drum fest and the Bag show in Paris. Also featured were duos with Benny Greb in Paris and Holland, Russ Miller in Holland and Dirk Verbeuren in Belgium. Then Pete was off to the Montreal drum fest for a duo performance with Steve Smith and a clinic at the KOSA Academy.

Three new albums came out in India in the fall of 2009. Music today released Pete's 'Journeys with the master drummers of India' Feat TH Vikku Vinnayakram whils Indiabeat released 'Made in Chennai' which is a duo with Ghatam maestro Umarshankar. Music Today also released 'Talking Drums' which also features Zakir Hussain, Taufiq and Bickram Ghosh. Then Pete was off to Poland for a solo show and a collaboration with the Polish group, Gudrumba. To conclude 2009 Pete was featured on Mick Karn's new album, "The Concrete Twin".

2008
Started with performances in India with U Shrinivas, U Rajesh and Loy Mendosa. Pete then had extensive recording work on the new Incredible Hulk film with Craig Armstrong along with preparation work on the new Bond film with David Arnold. It was then in the studio for work on Kiwi singer/songwriter legend Dave Dobbyn"s new album. Pete then performed with the group Sunev, feat Bickram Ghosh inc a show at the Darbar festival in the UK. Live performances with Steve Smiths Vital Information followed, inc Ronnie Scotts in London. Work with Jon Hassell followed with a performance with Maarifa street and a premiered work with a 150 strong choral group in Norwich cathedral. Then came live performances with Lee Scratch Perry & Aid Sherwood and then a mini tour of Russia with George Brooks and Kai Eckhardt along with the Goatika project. Pete then performed at Glastonbury with beat box star, Shlomo. This coincided with the release of Pete's new book on Hudson Music, 'Indian Rhythms for the Drum Set'. It is the first book ever written covering this topic. The book was considered 'Book of the year - 2008' and given 10/10 by Slagwerkraant magazine in Holland.

The TAALISMAN CD feat Pete and Amit Chatterjee was released in India in late June 08 on new independent label Indiabeat. At this time Pete's web site was also voted website of the month on the BBC Tom Robinson show. Pete also then got his teeth into recording and arranging all the ethnic percussion on the 2008 Bond flick, 'Quantum of solace'. Then Pete was back in India for a four city tour with Bickram and guitarist Giuliano Modarell. Around the same time anothe Indian release came out on the Indiabeat label featuring Pete, Henrik Anderson and Shashank for an album entitled ROR. November saw Pete on tour with the 'World Drummers Ensemble' for the Big Bang tour in Holland. The quintet featured; Simon Phillips, Baba Sissoko, Carlo Rizzo, Arto Tunçboyaciyan and Pete. Then Pete featured with Shlomo, Jarvis Cocker, Seb Rochford and a big list of celebs for a collaborative show at the Queen Elizabeth Hall which was sold out. One of the highlights was the trio feat Pete, Seb and Shlo.

2007
In early January, Pete went out to Kolkatta where he toured locally and recorded with Bikram Ghosh. There was also a TV special recorded for an international Indian station which featured Pete being interviewed by Tanmoy Bose. Pete then set sail for Chennai where he recorded with Rajesh Mandolin. After a brief break back in the UK for some sessions it was back to Chennai for a solo gig on the same bill as Indian legends Shuba Mudgal and Bombay Jayshree. Then there was a performance with U Shrinivas at the Dyhanalinga temple in front of 100,000 people. The show was also broadcast live on national TV. The trip was wound up with recording work on a 'big new' Tamil film called 'SIVAJI' with Superstar actor Rajini Kanth and music by AR Rahman. Then it was back to London to perform at Ronnie Scotts with Steve Smiths Vital Information. Pete also got news that he narrowly missed first spot in the readers' polls of Rhythm magazine for BEST LIVE PERCUSSIONIST 2006 and BEST STUDIO PERCUSSIONIST 2006

Pete was then back in Chennai for ten days performing solo on the same bill as Shakti at the founders day celebrations of Vikku Vinayakrams grandfathers percussion school. There was also another TV special recorded for SS music and a number of live radio performances. Pete also started work on a special new album which features the great Vikku Vinayakram, Bikram Ghosh, Rajesh Mandolin, Mahesh Vinayakram and Pete. Then Pete was off to Canada to perform at the Cape Bretton international drum fest. Pete performed a solo set and also duets with Michael Shrieve (Santana) and Ed Mann (Zappa). Then it was back to India for more recording with Bickram Ghosh and then back to the UK for recordings with Lee Scratch Perry and Aidrian Sherwood / Primal Scream. Pete also performed with Steve Hiltons FLYKKILER and Pete Lawrences Chilled by Nature at the big chill festival along with Remo Fernandes. Then Pete was off to the USA for a solo performance and duet performance with Steve Smith at the NH drum expo.

Pete was then off to Russia for recordings and performances with George Brooks and Russian outfit, Goatika. The TAALISMAN project with Amit Chatterjee also performed at Birdland in Austria. Then Pete was back in India for the month of December. Highlights included concerts with Bickram Ghosh, Kadri Gopalnath, and Ghatam Suresh, including a performance at the 70th birthday celebrations for the legend TVG. There was also a recording with some of the best musicians of Calcutta, including the great Pandit Shankar Ghosh. There were also recordings with Indian rock band, "Bandish" including a percussion feature on the title track on their new album. The trip wound up with NDTV doing a 30min special on Pete, Bickram and Bandish to be broadcast early 2008.

2006
It"s was a busy 2006 in Pete Lockett"s percussion world. Pete was working closely with Doug Wimbish of Living Colour on his new album, including a few live dates with Doug, the highlight of which was with Will Calhoun and Skip Macdonald at Wembley conference centre. Pete was also touring the UK with his Parallax beat brothers project featuring Scanner which had a new release in Japan autumn 06. Their summer performances included the Big Chill festival. Pete also toured in June with with a new trio featuring Fazal Qureshi and Amit Chatterjee, guitarist from the Zawinal syndicate.

There was also a Quartet with Bikram Ghosh from Calcutta, British saxophonist Jesse Banister and Algerian violinist Djamel Benyelles – They recorded in the summer of 2006 and have made a video for their debut album. On the session front Pete arranged and recorded solo percussion on the new James Bond film, becoming the first one to freeze the entire ProTools system at Air Studios with 96 simultaneous tracks of percussion! Bwahaha! Pete also recorded percussion for Adrian Sherwoods acclaimed new album on Real World. Pete and Scanner also released a second album with Parallax beat brothers in late 2006. 'Twisted Artifacts". Pete also performed solo at the South Bank Centre's Purcell Room for the Indian Bahar festival in June.

Pete has also been busy with clinics and solo shows and was one of the tutors at the Marktoberdorf drum week in Germany along with Steve Smith, Johnny Rabb and many more. There have also been live performances with Indian Sarod masters, Amaan and Ajaan Ali Khan, including a show at Womad, UK and in San Francisco. Other solo shows included the vibes from the vines festival, drums in the weald and some shows in Switzerland. From there Pete was off to record with Steve Smith's Vital Information and then Russ Miller on his new album, featuring Nelly Furtado. There were also performances with Little Axe following the release of their new album.

2005
Pete was voted #1 BEST LIVE PERCUSSIONIST 2005 in a readers 'poll of Rhythm magazine & best live percussionist 2005 on international drum site, mikedolbear.com. The year got off to an exciting start for Pete, inc recording with Daniel & Natasha Bedingfield @ Air studios, American band Euphoria @ Metropolis, David Arnold @ Air studios, American singer Jes (Of MotorcycleBand, USA Billboard top ten 2004) at Westlake studios, Los Angeles. Next up was a performance and clinic at the PAS UK event for REMO drums and on the same day was off to Istanbul for a mini tour with Adrian Sherwood. Then there was more recording. Albums with Legendary Indian singer HaraHaran at Sweet Georgia Browns in London, Greg Hunter (ex The Orb) at London view studios and also with the seventy year old Rhajastani Gypsy vocalist, Rheshma at Abbey road studios.

It has also been a time of new projects for Pete, including the new duo project with Scanner called "PARALLAX BEAT BROTHERS" and their first album, "Autek" The project is an electro-acoustic combination with electronic wizard Scanner and special guest Jon Hassell on trumpet. The project appeared at Rhythm Sticks at the Royal festival hall 2005 and had an extensive UK tour in Oct/Nov. Pete also was involved for Rhythm at Rhythm sticks and gave a drum set clinic at the rhythm day in the Purcell Room. There have also been gigs with the Taiko to Tabla project in the UK.

Pete then had a short trip to Croatia for some solo gigs at the Seaside Jazz festival, Vodice and the Split Jazz festival. He also guested with the group, Voices of Nature . He was then off to Denmark for ten days to record an album and perform with Danish guitarist Henrik Anderson (ex Trilok Gurtu band). Then there was more work back in London on the duo project with Steve Sidelynk. Craig Armstrong has co-writen a track for the project with Pete and Steve at Craig's studio in Scotland. Pete was then performing with Chandru and the Bollywood strings, including a performance with the BBC concert orchestra at the Proms in Hyde Park which was live on BBC2. Pete then performed solo at the drummer live event at Wembley in London on the main stage. The show featured guest Taiko drummer Liz Walters. Pete also did some live dates with Phil Clemo's 'Separated by shadows' project. Then it was off to the Falkland Islands for a series of solo performances & workshops besides guesting with a local band on some gigs.

2004
Pete started 2004 recording in Chennai with Rajesh Mandolin, brother of Shrinivas for his new album. Then it was off to Bombay to have the honour of being invited to perform with Ustad Zakir Hussain, Taufiq Quereshi, Bhavani Shankar, Ganesh Kumaresh and a group of Indian percussionists in for the yearly homage concert in memory of the late Ustad Alla Rakha. Pete then performed with Taufiq, Shrinivas, and Shankar Mahedevan at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London on 27th April for the annual UK concert, also in memory of Alla Rakha. Pete has also been busy touring his own projects, including the new duo with Irish musician Steafan Hannigan across Europe. Taiko to Tabla (Pete and Joji Hirota, a unique fusion of percussive cultures) were busy as ever touring and gigging. March 2004 saw the release of their second album on the Arc music label. There are plenty of interesting pieces on the album, including Joji"s fabulous Japanese folk singing and Shakuhachi.

Manodharma. The spring saw a new collaboration featuring Pete with Pandit Sharda Sahai on Tabla, Balachander Muthukrishnan on Mridangam, and Shri on bass. (Badmarsh and Shri) There were a series of concerts around London April/May 04. July saw the tenth anniversary of the international "RHYTHM STICKS" percussion festival at the Royal Festival Hall in London. Pete was involved in a new multi media collaboration featuring from Bombay, Ronu Majumdar on Indian flutes, from Italy, the virtuoso Italian guitarist Antonio Forcione, Bassist Davide Mantovani and amazing VJ"s from London "Yeast". There was a weeks rehearsals leading up to the gig which was a great success. There was also extensive touring with Adrian Sherwood around european venues and festivals, inc Glastonbury and Sudoeste in Portugal. There were also live dates with Little Axe and Craig Armstrong amongst others. Recordings included work on The Verve anthology, Martina Topley Bird, Chris Potter, John Spencer Blues Explosion, David Holmes, The Players/Steve White, Youth and Pete is the featured percussionist for the new Catwoman game which came out with the film in 2004. Pete also co wrote and was extensively involved in the music for the FENDI Designer clothing company"s cat walk fashion show in Rome 2004.

In September 2004 Pete performed duo with Steve Smith at Wembley conference centre as part of 'Drummer Live 2004' The performance was a great success, even though Pete had travelled through the night from Poland with no sleep. An hours rehearsal in the dressing room was enough to set up a challenging duet which went down a storm with the packed audience of drummers. Before this Pete was gigging in Poland with Little Axe, featuring Skip Macdonald, Doug Wimbish (Living Colour) and Adrian Sherwood. Pete was on Drum set and Perc. October saw continuing percussion work on Adrian's new album for Real World at his new studio in North London. There was also featured percussion recording on a new album from Legendary Bollywood singer, Hari Haran. In late November Pete performed solo and gave a clinic in Paris for the percussion festival, PAS Festival Journees de la Percussion. He also continued to be a regular techniques columnist for Rhythm Magazine in the UK and was active on the educational circuit with demos and workshops all over, including Brighton Institute of Modern Music and the Bath Festival.Pete also supplied percussion sounds for Steve Sidelnyk on one of his Signature Sounds kits released for ddrum4. Steve is Madonna's drummer and toured with her throughout 2004.

2003
One of the highlights of 2003 was a month long tour of India. It involved Pete"s Network of Sparks collaborating with the great Carnatic percussionist Selva Ganesh (Shakti & John McLaughlin) and Indian group Mrigya, including Sharat Chandra Srivastava on Hindustani Violin, Sukriti Sen Bhattacharjee on Classical Hindustani Vocals, and Indraneel Hariharan on bass. Also featured were Ghanaian master drummer Nana Tsiboe and tuned percussionist, Simon Limbrick. The tour went on the road after a week"s rehearsal in Delhi, and after concerts in the capital, went on to Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai and then back to Mumbai. Concerts included a performance at the prestigious Music Academy Theatre, where they were lucky enough to have Grammy winner, Vikku Vinayakram performing with them. There was also a busy workshop schedule, including one at the famous Hindustani music centre, "Sangeet Research Academy. Much recording was waiting back in the UK, including Jeff Beck, The Suga Babes, Hughes De Courson and the usual list of films etc. He also did a lot of the percussion programming on the new Ronan Keating album. The year came to a busy conclusion with Pete involved in a number of new projects and recordings. First was the UK tour supporting Blur with Adrian Sherwood and Ghetto Priest, followed by a performance with Michael Nyman at the British Museum in London. Live recordings with Edwyn Collins for his new album bought the proceedings to a close.

2002
Started with a UK tour with Joji and Taiko to Tabla and a string of gigs with Flamenco guitarist Eduardo Neibla in the UK, including a concert at the Purcell Room on the South Bank. From there Pete and Joji went off to Hong Kong for a concert and workshops in the prestigious Kwai Tsing Theatre Auditorium to a very eager sold out capacity. From there Taiko to Tabla performed across Belgium in another mini tour. Then it was an extensive period in the studio working with various artists, including work on his own two forthcoming albums. Then it was off to Glasgow to rehearse with Craig Armstrong for a mini tour of his forthcoming album on Virgin/Melankolic. The tour kicked off with a show at the Barbican in London with the forty strong London Sinfonietta and the Metro Voices. Then it was RHYTHM STICKS at the Festival Hall in London in a collaboration with master Lebanese percussionist Rony Barrak called Thala Maksoum. The show was a great success and was received well by the press. In July Pete also completed work on the new Sinead O'Connor recording, began work on percussion for the new 007 Bond film, 'Die Another Day' and performed at WOMAD UK with Adrian Sherwood and the 'On-U-Sound' crew.

July saw the release of Pete's new album on ARC records, featuring musicians from Pakistan, Ghana, Japan and the UK. The album was recorded partly in the UK and partly in Pakistan. MP3 clip Early September saw Pete off on tour around Europe with Craig Armstrong. On drums was all round 'top geezer' Steve Sidelynk. In September Pete also went to Azerbaijan with his Network of Sparks project to perform and collaborate with local musicians, including Zahid Quliyev and a fifteen strong troupe of traditional Azeri musicians, including three percussionists (Naghara, Double Naghara and Zarb) and traditional instruments such as Balaban, Tar, Kamanch, Oud and fantastic "Moham" vocals. Whilst there Pete got the chance to visit and drum on the ancient 'Gobustan' rock, dating back to the stone age. Then it was work on the film "The Sin Eater" with Guitarist David Torn (using amongst other things, a "vital" 60” Tam Tam) and also a period in the studio with, Jeff Beck, producer Andy Wright and then Paul/Mick from M People. Pete also recorded with Phil Manzanera (ex Roxy Music) and Spanish band, Elefantes. (Listen out for the "Dustbin Samba Batucada" on one of the tracks, all played on dustbins, Lamps, Fires, Bread bins and much else besides!!)

2001
Began with a great percussive theme with Pete going out to Rio in Brazil to conduct some workshops with New York based percussionist Frank Colon. Towards the end of Feb Pete went off to Sudan with Nana Tsiboe and Steafan Hannigan for a series of concerts featuring local drumming and dance group 'Kwoto' from the south of Sudan. The tour was a great success culminating in a performance in the grand open air national theatre. From there it was off to Pakistan, along with Nana for just over two weeks. They performed with virtuoso Pakistani guitarist Mekaal Hassan (Billy Cobham) and amazing classical vocalist Riaz Khan. They toured the major cities of Pakistan, including a concert for 3000 people at the prestigious Sufi soul world music festival in Lahore. They then spent a week in the studio working on tracks together.

Pete then got his teeth into writing a work for the Northern Sinfonia in England which was premiered in May 2001 at the Window on the World festival in North Shields. The piece was written with emphasis on percussion and rhythm, involving a twenty strong percussion troupe from the area called the 'percussion posse', along with orchestra, electronics and plenty of shouting. Then Pete & Pam Chowhan's project, abZolute Zero, released their first re-mix on the recent melt2000 CD, "Sandscapes, Bushmen of the Kalahari', produced by Pops Mohamed. They also had the great honour of performing live with them at the launch of the album in London. 2001 was also a great 'RHYTHM STICKS' year for Pete. One of the major drum festivals in the world gave host to a performance of Pete's 'Network of Sparks' trio, featuring Nana Tsiboe and Simon Limbrick. Also featured were the great talents of the 'Akwaaba drum orchestra' a group of drummers specialising in authentic performances of African drumming traditions, including those of the powerful 'Sabar' drum. A group of eight drummers joined the trio for a number of pieces, including an intense South Indian piece featuring Sabar.

Pete was then on the road with Afro Celt Sound System, kicking off with some gigs around Europe, inc the Fleadh in London, Wechter and Athens Womad. It was then off to the USA to tour for a short period. The tour began with the Letterman Show and Seattle Womad with Peter Gabriel followed by a string of dates on both sides of the states including San Francisco, LA, New York and a brief escapade around Canada supporting Dave Matthews. Whilst in LA Pete got the opportunity to visit the REMO drum company at their factory in Valencia, as well as getting the opportunity to perform with the late great John Bergamo and his group 'Hands On'Semble' at CAL Arts. (California Institute of the Arts)

2000
Was a year of collaborations for Pete, kicking off with a project in the Middle East with Arabic musicians Amir Joubran (Oud) and Shamir Shasar (Persian flutes, Ney and Iranian vocal), and Shetland fiddler Catriona MacDonald. They spent six days putting together a set and then did a series of concerts and workshops. Then it was off to Malaysia for five concerts and workshops including the Drumusique percussion festival in Kuala Lumpur. This time it was with Taiko to Tabla and Japanese drummers Mark Alcock and Liz Walters. This was followed by a trip to Hungary with the same set up to perform in the Azene Unnepe festival in Budapest. Next was the annual Barcelona festival in Spain as part of a collaboration with Flamenco guitarist Pepe Habichuela and Indian violinist Chandru. After a few days' rehearsal they did a short string of gigs, culminating in a show in the Teatre 'Grec' amphitheatre. They also found time to do a bit of recording together along the way. July 16th - 22nd saw the annual Rhythm Sticks bash at the South Bank in London. Pete performed as part of The Big Chill in the Royal Festival Hall with BJ Cole and Luke Vibert and as a special guest with Andy Gangadeen in the Purcell Room.

November saw Pete in KHATMANDU, NEPAL. The Network of Sparks trio performed a string of dates with a group of local drummers and musicians guesting, including local Bansuri hero, Prem Rana Autari and the Sur Sudha group. Then Pete and the Network of Sparks trio including, Simon and Nana went out to Thailand for a short tour. There were some memorable outdoor concerts on this tour with very attentive listening audiences. Pete also did some live work with Aziz Ibrahim, guitarist with The Stone Roses and Simply Red. They went on tour in Denmark supporting Danish rock legend, Allan Olsen towards the end of the year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PETE